Casse 2-Year-Olds, Others Work at Churchill

The Oct. 25 workout tab at Churchill Downs included more than a handful of contenders for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships who continued to go through their paces.

Included in the workers were WinStar Farm’s Blue Laserand John Oxley’s Delightful Mary, both Mark Casse-trained 2-year-olds who worked together after the renovation break. Calvin Borel on Blue Laser and Shaun Bridgmohan on Delightful Mary. Delightful Mary, racing on the outside and breaking off in front, covered five furlongs in 1:00 and finished a length in front of Blue Laser, who was clocked in 1:00 1/5.

Fractions for the work were :11 4/5, :24, :36 and :47 2/5 with Delightful Mary galloping out six furlongs in 1:13 4/5 and Blue Laser in 1:14 2/5.

"I thought the works were excellent," said Casse, who was the leading trainer at Churchill Downs in the spring 1988 meet with 29 winners. "Neither of them had worked on dirt before. Blue Laser is not as good a workhorse as she is, but he is a fighter. He got passed and came back to win twice."

While Delightful Mary, a winner of two of three starts on Polytrack, will be pre-entered in the $2 million Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I), Blue Laser may wait until the Delta Jackpot (gr. III) at Delta Downs on Nov. 20.

"We (Casse and WinStar general manager Elliott Walden) are going to talk about it later today, but I think we will probably pass the Breeders’ Cup (Juvenile) and go to the Delta Jackpot," said Casse, who shared the 2007 Jackpot victory with dead-heat winner Turf War.

"One of the factors is timing," said Walden. "He just ran three weeks ago and ran really hard and our program is geared to the 3-year-old season."

Among the other works involving possible Breeders’ Cup horses were the Steve Asmussen-trained duo of Riley Tucker(Sentient Jet Sprint, gr. I) covering five furlongs before the renovation break in 1:01 4/5 (:13 1/5, :25 1/5, :37 1/5, :49 2/5 and out six furlongs in 1:15) and Thiskyhasnolimit (Dirt Mile. gr. I) working six furlongs in company with Tone It Down in 1:12 4/5 (:13 1/5, :25, :36 3/5, :48, 1:00 4/5 and out seven furlongs in 1:26 1/5). Central City (Turf Sprint) worked a half-mile under jockey Robby Albarado in :48 (:11 4/5, :23 1/5, :35 1/5 and out five furlongs in 1:02 3/5) for trainer Ronny Werner. Alcomo (Marathon) 1:43 4/5 for a mile for trainer Eduardo Caramori.

Working over a Matt Winn Turf Course labeled as "good" was Silent Joy (Juvenile Fillies Turf) covering five furlongs in 1:04 1/5 around the "dogs" under trainer Michelle Nihei. Fractions were :12, :24 4/5, :38 and :50 4/5. Also working five furlongs was Keertana, who is a possibility for the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT) or the Cardinal Handicap (gr. III) on Nov. 7, covering the distance in 1:04 in fractions of :27 1/5, :40 3/5, :52 1/5 and out six furlongs in 1:17 2/5 and seven-eighths in 1:32 1/5.